Craig L. Berkman, 71, of Odessa, Fla., entered the plea to securities fraud and wire fraud in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, agreeing to serve between eight and 10 years in prison, according to the terms of a written agreement between Berkman and prosecutors.

Berkman, an Oregon GOP gubernatorial candidate in 1994 when he was a millionaire who had accumulated wealth by creating and selling high-tech companies, admitted that he falsely claimed to investors in December 2010 that he owned shares of Facebook Inc., Groupon Inc. and LinkedIn Inc., among other companies.